Gil Shaham has known Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas all his life but incorporated them into his concert programmes only recently. He has recorded them following his residency last summer with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Despite the majestic, luxurious tone he produces on the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius, he has made concession to period style with a baroque bridge and bow and three of the four strings being gut. Tempi are fast – easier to negotiate on a lighter, baroque bow – and vibrato, though audible, is more restrained. He brings out inner voices vividly, though the ornamentation may be too fussy for some. The mighty Chaconne sounds almost too robust, but his sense of structure is never in doubt.
Shaham has thought hard about these works (as an essay in the liner notes confirms) and his technique is flawless. He has a particular gift for ending each movement: thoughtful, and in apt conclusion to what has gone before. There are as many interpretations of these great masterworks as there are days in the year. Try Shaham. For contrast listen, say, to Nathan Milstein and Isabelle Faust. You may need all three.
